Las Vegas, NV (USA) – On Sunday, April 5, World Extreme Cagefighting® takes its maiden voyage to the Windy City of Chicago, and it’s bringing the best bantamweights in the world to the UIC Pavilion for WEC: Torres vs Bowles. In the main event, WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Angel Torres returns to fight in the Midwest for the first time in two years to face the biggest challenge to his crown yet in unbeaten Brian Bowles, and Island Lake, Illinois’ Jeff Curran looks to make his case for a shot at the belt when he battles undefeated phenom Joseph Benavidez.

Tickets for World Extreme Cagefighting go on sale at 10 a.m. CT Saturday, February 14 and will be priced at $45.00, $75.00, $125.00 and $175.00. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to WEC newsletter subscribers Thursday, February 12 starting at Noon CT. To access this presale, users must register for the WEC newsletter through wec.tv. Tickets will be available for purchase through the UIC Pavilion, online at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at 312-559-1212.

World Extreme Cagefighting will be televised live nationally on VERSUS beginning at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT. All live WEC events are presented in Hi-Definition (HD) where available. For more information and how to find VERSUS in your local viewing area, visit http://www.versus.com/findversus.

Universally regarded as one of mixed martial arts’ premier fighters, pound for pound, East Chicago, Indiana’s Miguel Angel Torres (35-1) is a dynamic performer who is deadly wherever the fight takes him. Owner of the WEC bantamweight championship since February of 2008, the 28-year old Torres has since defended his title with spectacular stoppages of Yoshiro Maeda and Manny Tapia, and with a third defense over Brian Bowles, he will continue to cement his position on top of the MMA world.

Athens, Georgia’s Brian Bowles (7-0) has taken an old school route to his bantamweight title shot, cleaning out all contenders in his path and leaving no questions about his status as the number one contender at 135 pounds. 4-0 in the WEC, the well-rounded 28-year old has finished Charlie Valencia, Marcos Galvao, Damacio Page, and Will Ribeiro to get his shot at the belt, and now he’s looking to finish off the king on April 5th.

A longtime favorite of the Midwest fight scene, former WEC featherweight contender and title challenger Jeff “Big Frog” Curran (31-10-1) has long had his sights set on Miguel Torres, and he has even dropped down to the bantamweight division to chase his local rival. There is business to take care of for both men first though, and for Curran, that means his clash with Joseph Benavidez on April 5th. So expect the 30-year old Curran to come out with guns blazing in order to move forward in the crowded bantamweight division.

The 24-year old Joseph Benavidez (9-0) came to the WEC last December with a lot of hype due to his raw talent and impressive previous performances, and he lived up to the expectations with a big win over Danny Martinez. Now the stablemate of former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber is ready for the next step in his career, and for him, there would be nothing better than to add the name Jeff Curran to his victims list.

All bouts subject to change. For more information about current WEC fight news, visit wec.tv.

About World Extreme Cagefighting

The WEC brand is recognized as one of the premier mixed martial arts organizations in the United States. Founded in 2001, the WEC features many of the most prominent athletes in the sport of mixed martial arts today. Owned and operated by WEC Holdings LLC., and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., the WEC produces live and taped events annually that are distributed through the Versus network. In addition to its U.S distribution, WEC programming is shown on the TSN network in Canada and Cadena Tres in Mexico. For more information and current WEC fight news, visit wec.tv. World Extreme Cagefighting® and WEC® are registered trademarks, trademarks, trade dress or service marks owned exclusively by WEC Holdings, LLC in the United States and other jurisdictions and are licensed to WEC Productions, LLC.

VERSUS celebrates real competition across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD). Now in more than 74 million homes, the network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the IndyCar® Series as well as best-in-class events such as The Tour de France, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Professional Boxing. The network also offers collegiate sports featuring nationally-ranked teams from top conferences such as the Pac-10, Big 12, Mountain West and Ivy League. VERSUS features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events and original programs, such as Sports Soup and The Contender that audiences can't find elsewhere. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.